Arqana February Sale starts

THE Arqana February Mixed Sale takes place next Tuesday and Wednesday in Deauville. Those in need of assistance with travel or purchasing plans are welcome to contact Arqana’s Irish representative Nicola Kent on 087-2861149 or email nicolakent@hotmail.com.

For bloodstock and bidding, the best contacts are Mathieu Legarde and Freddy Powell, who both speak fluent English. Bids can also be placed through arqanaonline.com but you need to create an account and register for the sale of your choice in advance.

Mathieu Legars 0033 786 410217, mlegars@arqana.com

Freddy Powell 0033 630 680660, email fpowell@arqana.com

Dundalk fixture switch in March

DUNDALK Stadium’s scheduled fixture on Friday, March 18th has been transferred to Wednesday evening, March 23rd. March 18th is now a bank holiday and not suitable for an evening meeting.

Trainers meeting scheduled

THE Irish Racehorse Trainers Association will hold its annual general meeting in the Hotel Keadeen, Newbridge, Co Kildare at 3pm on Tuesday, March 1st.

Stable staff AGM this week

THE annual general meeting of the Irish Stablestaff Association will take place in RACE, Kildare town, at 7pm next Thursday, February 17th.

Gowran Park all-ticket on Saturday

NEXT Saturday’s Connolly’s Red Mills race day at Gowran Park is an all-ticket event. The limited number of remaining tickets will be released free-of-charge on Tuesday morning via the Gowran Park website. No walk-ups will be admitted on the day.

Eclipse award for The Mean Queen

THE Irish-bred racemare The Mean Queen won an Eclipse Award this week as North America’s leading steeplechaser of 2021.

Trained by Keri Brion, The Mean Queen won three Grade 1 events last year at Saratoga, Belmont and Far Hills. A daughter of Doyen, she started her career by winning a point-to-point for Ellen Doyle and a bumper for Yvonne Latta.

Godolphin were the big winners at the Eclipse Awards, being crowned Outstanding Owner and Outstanding Breeder of the year, with over 20 graded stakes wins in the year.

The Charlie Appleby-trained Yibir was named Champion Male Turf Horse and Godolphin’s Essential Quality (Brad Cox) was voted Champion Three-Year-Old Male, despite being beaten by Bob Baffert’s Medina Spirit on the two occasions they met.